


pull me in like gravity

by byunderella



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band), ONF (Band), Seven O'Clock (Band), 믹스나인 | MIXNINE (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, BUT they get a happy ending, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, Romance, gyeomhyo, gyeomhyo are roommates, hangyeom has no idea how to act with hyojin, hyogyeom, hyojin holds a grudge like no one else, minor dongjun, they're all dormmates, they're both dumb, this is so long oh god i am so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 07:08:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13782357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byunderella/pseuds/byunderella
Summary: Hyojin realizes that freedom comes at a price when his roommate ends up being Song Hangyeom, otherwise known as the jerk who took the last philosophy textbook from him at the bookstore.





	pull me in like gravity

**Author's Note:**

> my first of hopefully many gyeomhyo fics because i love this ship so much ugh don't touch me

 

 

 

Freedom.

 

The word flitters around Hyojin’s mind as he’s unpacking the last of his boxes, displaying the picture frames he had taken with him from home onto his new desk. Though the common area for the six of them is nice, the bedroom is rather small—probably even smaller than his room at home. But it doesn’t matter to him as much, not when all he can think about is how he had finally escaped from all of the nagging and interrogative dinners. Here, he could be completely independent and unrestricted—able to make his own decisions without the pestering fear of what his parents would think about it.

 

It’s not that he didn’t love his family, but rather he’s been growing tired of the burden of having to exceed their always growing expectations. So what if he’s a science student? He’s not even quite sure what he’s doing most of the time and at this point he’s barely scraping by. It didn’t help that his family lived almost an hour away from university, waking up an hour and a half before his class to catch the hour long bus sounded infinitely less appealing than being a five-minute walk away from his first class.

 

Hyojin knows that he’s supposed to be meeting his new roommate today. The thought of sharing a room with someone he barely knows is a little unsettling—if they didn’t manage to get along he knows that it won’t be as much of a success as he thought it would be. But then again, it’s never been particularly hard for Hyojin to make friends, after he'd gotten past the awkward beginnings, that is. Maybe it’s just his nature to expect the worst in new situations that’s making him nervous. And if anything, the dorm is shared between the friends he’s already made, so if his roommate ever got out of line, he knows they would have his back.

 

After he finishes putting away his moving boxes, Hyojin checks his phone for the three new unread messages.

 

  

> **kinghun** : dude where are you
> 
> **kinghun** : me and jun have been waiting for you for a whole 10 minutes
> 
> **kinghun** : hurry up
> 
> **deerjin** : alright dongdong calm down im omw
> 
> **kinghun** : I told you not to call me that
> 
> **kinghun** : this is why im your only friend
> 
> **kinghun** : im the only one who puts up with your annoying ass
> 
> **deerjin** : I have plenty of friends you rotten fishstick
> 
> **kinghun** : rotten
> 
> **kinghun** : fishstick
> 
> **kinghun** : that's it im dropping you
> 
> **kinghun** : don't come anymore
> 
> **deerjin** : shut up I’ll be there in 5

 

 

Among the (many) friendships Hyojin has, Donghun is, most of the time, one of his more questionable ones. Hyojin met Donghun almost three years ago in his anatomy lab because they sat next to each other and Hyojin was trying to save money by not buying textbooks. Donghun had willingly shared his with him and throughout the duration of the course they fell into a comfortable rapport. Sometimes it was hard to believe Donghun was older than him, especially with how petty he could be. But then he would make horribly outdated jokes and Hyojin was reminded that Donghun was definitely older him, even if only by a year. Donghun would counter that by telling him that he was just as much of a grandpa as he was, but then Hyojin would throw himself into a big show of his disgustingly cute voice to retaliate, and that would shut Donghun up immediately. Though most of their friendship consisted of bickering and admittedly crappy nicknames, Donghun had steadily become the biggest constant in Hyojin’s life, and despite their lack of affection Donghun always knew that Hyojin valued him and Hyojin knew Donghun appreciated him too.

 

When he reaches the university center building, he spots Donghun by the entrance of the bookstore, arms crossed over his chest and tapping his foot impatiently. Hyojin waves a hand at him with a smile, ignoring the glare the older throws him. 

 

“You’re a whole 17 minutes late Kim Hyojin. How long does it take you to unload? I had to stand here that entire time, waiting for you.”

 

Hyojin raises a brow, surveying the area, “There are literally a bunch of empty chairs right outside the door.”

 

Donghun holds a hand up to stop him from talking, “Not the point. The point is you were _so_ late that Jun deemed his coffee needs were more important than textbooks and ditched me.”

 

Hyojin rolls his eyes at Donghun’s show of theatrics and pushes him into the bookstore, “Alright, your boyfriend loves coffee more than you, get over it.”

 

It doesn’t take Hyojin long to find the book he needs, and it’s a good thing too, because it’s the last one in stock and Hyojin knows how long it takes for the school to restock them. At the same time he reaches out for it, there’s another hand already on the cover. “Oh, um, sorry but I saw this first.”

 

Hyojin tries not to let the surprise show on his face at the very much attractive man he’s eye-to-eye with, with his jet black hair, charming eyes and _holy shit are those earrings he’s wearing?_

 

“Actually, I grabbed it first.” The guy says with a tight-lipped smile, pulling the book towards him, though Hyojin only tightens his grip.

 

“I think _I_ grabbed it first.”

 

“Yeah, well I need it.”

 

“If you weren’t able to make the deduction, I need it too.” Hyojin returns bitingly, pulling back the book, though a little intimidated by the apparent way the guy towers him, when his back hits the other shelf at the strong tug.

 

“Sorry, Red. I’m not leaving here without this.” Hyojin’s brows furrow at the name, and then he realizes that the guy is referring to the evident shade of his hair, falling into his eyes.

 

“Sorry back, but neither am I.” The fight for the book turns into some sort of intimidation contest, the air goes quiet as they glare each other, neither loosening their hold.

 

The tension is only relieved when Donghun walks into their aisle. “Hey, Hyojin did you find—uhhh.”

 

They both turn to Donghun, who looks awfully confused about how to handle the situation. “Donghun will you please tell this person that it’s only _right_ for him to give me the textbook because I saw it first?”

 

“Hey, would you tell your little friend over here,” The guy gestures to Hyojin but Hyojin is only scowling at the use of the word ‘little’, “That it’s rude to grab something from out of someone else’s hands?”

 

“I saw it first!”

 

“I _touched_ it first!”

 

“Alright!” Donghun bursts out, forehead creasing in distress, “Um, Hyojin didn’t you say you could get through your classes without buying textbooks?”

 

“Yeah but this class needs a code for quizzes and this is the last one.” Hyojin whips his head back to the other guy, who had been trying to stealthily pry it out of his hands while he was distracted. “Now if you would just let go we’d be done here.”

 

“Unlike _you_ , I actually make use of textbooks.” The guy shoots back, tugging so hard that it pulls Hyojin towards him and now he’s a lot closer than he wants to be and this guy smells good but that shouldn’t even matter because he’s a _jerk_.

 

Donghun comes closer, putting a hand on Hyojin’s shoulder. “You can just buy the code online, right?”

 

In the few seconds Hyojin takes to think about the idea, the guy successfully manages to pull the book from out of his hands. With a smirk and a two-finger salute, the guy leaves him with a _“Good choice, Red.”_ and walks away with the book in his arms.

 

Hyojin huffs, turning back to Donghun with a sneer, “Look what you did! That pompous jerk just walked away with the last word.”

 

“It’s fine, Hyo.” Donghun pats him on the back, “You can just get the code online. And it’s not like you’ll ever see him again so don’t stress about him either.”

 

Hyojin frowns, “Are you trying to stunt my growth as a student? What if I _wanted_ to read the textbook?”

 

Donghun snorts at that, “You, my friend, like to live on the edge. And _your_ kind of edge is studying without a textbook because _that’s_ how lame you are. You’ll be fine.”

 

“You’re terrible at comforting people.” Hyojin flings Donghun’s arm off of his shoulder and stomps away.

 

 

 

Hyojin and Donghun spend most of their afternoon at an outlet nearby, searching for shoes. Junhee and Seungjun join them mid-shopping, and Seungjun even offers to treat Hyojin for food after he had complained to them about the stupid, hot bookstore guy.

 

“You know, for someone who’s upset you’re sure highlighting the fact that he was hot _pretty_ often.” Junhee teases.

 

“Yeah, I could practically feel the sexual tension just from listening to the story.” Seungjun adds, earning a punch to the shoulder.

 

“That’s ridiculous, guys. Who cares if he’s hot when he’s a jerk?”

 

“Clearly, you.” Donghun points out, and the other two nod along with him. Hyojin pokes at a piece of sushi with his chopstick angrily.

 

Hyojin decides that this is the end of their friendship.

 

Junhee drives them back to their dorm as the sun starts to set. They get off the elevator onto the third floor of their Student Residence building, piling into their shared dorm. When Hyojin walks into his room he expects to see a less empty side of the room opposite from his, but he doesn’t expect it to be _this_ disorganized. There’s a duffle bag on the floor right beside _his_ bed, and a pair of shoes that looked to have been thrown off carelessly onto the middle of the carpet—the shoe rack in the common area is there for a _reason_.

 

 _Great_.

 

He’s too shocked to discern a presence coming into the room behind him, and it’s not until the other speaks that he realizes the universe is _definitely_ not on his side. “Red?”

 

“ _You_..” Hyojin lifts a hand to point at his new roommate, who, by some kind of sick Absolute Being’s twisted view of fate, also happens to be the main subject of his day’s hardship.

 

 

 

Of course freedom would come at a price.

 

 

+

 

 

Hyojin doesn’t want to say he’s given up only four days into the semester, but it wouldn’t be false to say that he’s only attended two days out of the four so far. He likes to think half is better than nothing, but he also remembers the promise he made to himself before the school year had started—to go at least two months without skipping, and if he had to miss class, it had to be because he was studying for an exam for another one. It’s clear that his resolution is out the window when he wakes up on Thursday afternoon and realizes he’s already missed all of his classes for the day. He groans as he realizes none of his friends had even bothered to wake him up, not even Donghun.

 

He figures that the least he can do is get up and out of his room, eat some food and re-write some of his notes. The thing he loves the most about university (or really, the _only_ thing he likes about it) is that no one here ever seemed to give a damn about each other. He could walk across the campus, sit himself down in an open area in his pajamas and no one would question or judge him for it. After washing up, he figures a pair of sweatpants and a loose long sleeved-shirt is the best he’s going to be able to bring himself to do today, so with that, he stuffs his laptop in his bag and takes off.

 

The Degrees café has basically been Hyojin’s study place for all of his time at university. He’s always hated the suffocating silence of a library, and much rather preferred a modest amount of background noise as he worked away at his papers and notes. He comes here so often that he’s on a first name basis with all of the employees here, and they greet him every time they see him. Throughout his few years attending this university, he’s come to discover that the perfect time for him to come to the café is around two o’clock, when people have already finished their lunches and the café is usually half empty. It usually works for him in that he’s self-claimed the corner table of the place as his own.

 

But when he arrives there at 2:05 after purchasing his lunch, there’s someone sitting at _his_ table and he’s already not having a good day. Hyojin circles around said table, desperately wishing the person would get up and leave at that exact moment. When the culprit looks up at him and Hyojin catches his eye he realizes that yes, there is _definitely_ some higher being looking down on him and having the greatest time playing around with his luck. He strides up to the table with less shame and grinds his teeth, “ _You_.”

 

His roommate and recently named arch nemesis—Hangyeom—smiles at him saccharine sweet and Hyojin wants to wipe it right off of his stupid, arrogant face. “Me.”

 

“You’re in my spot.” Hyojin pronounces, less apologetically than he would have if it were someone else.

 

Hangyeom lifts an eyebrow, glancing around, “I don’t see your name anywhere?”

 

Hyojin presses his lips together, “I sit here every day, it’s my spot, kind of an unspoken rule. I’m sure you can find somewhere else to go, there are plenty of tables here too.”

 

“There are, so why can't you sit at any of them instead?” Hangyeom retorts, then turns back to his notebook. Hyojin’s patience is running thin and he doesn’t like the idea of not having a corner table so he doesn’t plan on giving up any time soon.

 

“Listen here, book thief,” Hangyeom raises a brow, amused at the nickname, “The least you could do after so _rudely_ grabbing that textbook out of my hands a few days ago is yield this seat to me.”

 

“Is there something wrong here, Hyojin?” One of the café employees comes up to them as she’s walking around the tables wiping them off.

 

“No, Miran, we’re fine.” Hyojin smiles at her reassuringly. She doesn’t seem to believe him but he thinks she knows he won’t escalate this to a point where she would need to intervene. She pats him on the shoulder before walking away. When he turns back to Hangyeom, he’s scrutinizing him with an entertained expression.

 

“You know her name?”

 

Hyojin throws him a sarcastic smile, “Yes, because one, she works hard and provides me with good food so yes, I think it’s right that I know her name. And two, I think it’s clear that I’ve been here long enough for me to claim that as my seat. So that leads us to three,” Hyojin points at him, “move it.”

 

Hangyeom throws his hands up defensively, “Still don’t see a name, princess.”

 

“Well, guess what—wait, did you just call me _princess_?” Hyojin asks incredulously, mouth hanging agape.

 

“I am so sorry for disrupting your peace, your majesty. I will concede this seat to you even though you’ve disrupted _my_ peace, because unlike _some_ people, _I’m_ considerate. Have a good day, princess.” Hangyeom leaves him with a smirk and Hyojin can barely hold back his temper.

 

“Stupid book thief.” He mumbles, sitting down in his chair. It irks him to the core that out of all the people in this whole university that Hyojin could have been paired with, it had to be _him_. It’s been no secret to him and his friends that Hyojin is their icon of misfortune, but he would think that with all of the things he’s done right, he could have at least be granted a _tolerable_ roommate. Apparently that’s not what life has planned for him though, because if things are hard for him _now_ then things have to get even worse because that’s how his life works. Maybe if he put a barricade in the middle of their room he wouldn’t have to see him as often. Maybe that was going too far, but it’s not like Hangyeom didn’t have the chance to prove himself to be different in the last few days that they’ve known each other.

 

Sometimes first impressions fail to present someone for who they are, but Hyojin thinks Hangyeom is always going to hold true to being obnoxious.

 

 

+

 

 

Maybe under completely different circumstances, Hyojin and Hangyeom could have been friends. When he hears him make jokes with Jaeyoung or when he says something friendly to Seungjun he thinks they might have gotten along if they didn’t meet each other the way they did. Hyojin doesn’t deny that Hangyeom is probably most of the time an okay person, but then he opens his mouth and suddenly all of those _perhaps_ and _could be_ ’s go up in smoke because Song Hangyeom is an _idiot_.

 

Their relationship has developed into something akin to rivalry, but Hyojin doesn’t want to be petty about it because that’s not who he is. But there’s something about Hangyeom that brings out qualities in him that he’s never shown before. The raven-haired boy has a way of riling Hyojin up so easily, when he’s supposed to be the calm understanding one. And Hyojin can’t for the life of him figure out how he’s able to do it—how he’s able to get under his skin and look right through him in the span of a breath.

 

At this point, he can’t even count on both hands how many times he’s called him Princess, and counters all of his sarcastic remarks with even more wit and Hyojin doesn’t like to lose, especially not in a game that he’s supposed to be a good at. It seems to him that Hangyeom is always one step ahead of him, and it aggravates him in every way possible. He thinks it’s unfair how all of Hangyeom’s positive attributes are all weighed down by one feature, and that is that he’s a prick.

 

“Come on, Red. I thought you had skills but you’re gawking at me pretty obviously right now.” Hangyeom says with his back facing Hyojin, making eye contact with him through the mirror as he’s slipping a shirt on.

 

Hyojin’s jaw drops, befuddled. _Gawking_? He had looked his way for maybe all of a second, how pretentious could this jerk possibly get? “I hope you choke on your ego.” He throws at him before turning back to his laptop, trying (but ultimately failing) to focus on his paper.

 

“Maybe you should choke on your attitude.” Hangyeom retorts, “Or you could always choke on something else.”

 

That has Hyojin actually choking on the water that he had timed to drink badly. His eyes widen, wiping the trickle water sliding down his chin. “You did _not_ just make a sexual innuendo at me.”

 

Hangyeom shrugs, slipping on a bomber jacket, “Not my fault everything you say asks for it.”

 

Hyojin gets up from his bed, grabbing his charger off of his desk. “If we just stopped talking to each other completely I wouldn’t have anything to say to you.”

 

“That would be a pretty bleak life, wouldn’t it?”

 

He shakes his head, “Nope, in fact, it sounds like paradise.”

 

Hangyeom lifts a brow, stepping towards him as the corners of his mouth quirk up. Hyojin’s breath hitches as he gets closer, “Really? Because I think you like the thrill.”

 

Hyojin scoffs, miffed. He takes a step towards Hangyeom just for the sake of proving he’s not about to cower in front of him, “Hardly.”

 

Hangyeom leans in, “Then why aren’t you backing away?”

 

He only smirks at that, lifting his shoulder in a half-shrug, “I don’t back down from a challenge.”

 

Neither of them say anything after that; Hangyeom still has that stupid smug look on his face and Hyojin doesn’t have enough willpower to stop his eyes from wandering down to his lips. His breaths become shallow, head starting to spin.

 

And then the moment is interrupted by Donghun, who bursts into their room, seemingly unaware of the predicament Hyojin had gotten himself into at that very moment as he yells at him to get ready. “We’re leaving in 15!” At Donghun’s outburst, Hyojin jumps up, head clearly not on as straight as he thinks because the shock causes him to walk directly into Hangyeom, bumping his nose against his shoulder.

 

Hangyeom chuckles under his breath, whispering softly next to his ear, “Watch where you’re going, princess.”

 

The raven-haired boy makes his leave and Hyojin is left standing in the middle of their room, both dazed and embarrassed. Hyojin throws his head back with a sigh, “Why does the universe hate me?”

 

+

 

 

“Donghun, I swear to you he is the _worst_ person you could ever meet!” Hyojin blurts out frustrated after slamming the door to Donghun and Junhee’s room and flopping over on Donghun’s bed. It’s been all of a month since school started and Hyojin already wants to move back in with his parents. Hangyeom is the complete opposite of him; he’s unorganized, wakes up way too early with a way too loud alarm and wears his stupid round specs like he’s allowed to look like _that_. He’s every kind of infuriating and Hyojin doesn’t want to deal with him anymore.

 

The outburst doesn’t even merit a brow raise, Donghun having been used to Hyojin’s dramatic nature by now and because it’s a thing they both share, “No, I think the worst person you could ever meet would be Satan.”

 

“He _is_ Satan!”

 

“Satan with some really nice thighs.”

 

“Well yeah but—wait!” Hyojin freaks out when he realizes what he had just agreed to, “No!”

 

Donghun snorts, “Someone’s obviously been looking.”

 

“I have _not_!” Hyojin retorts adversely, “And why does that even matter?”

 

“It matters because I know you have a thing for thighs and I also know this whole enemies thing is hard for you whenever he wears tight jeans.” Donghun points out easily, not even looking up from his phone. Hyojin huffs, the taste of betrayal sitting bitterly on his tongue as he laments the day he had told Donghun about that. So what if Hangyeom is attractive? So what if he has amazing thighs? What did it matter that he’s a work of art when his personality is like a bad apple that spoils his pretty face? Hyojin couldn’t care less about his appearance.

 

“Nice thighs don’t matter if the personality isn’t there. Get over it, Donghun.”

 

Donghun narrows his eyes at him, unconvinced, “Alright, whatever you say.”

 

“Good, now can we stop talking about him?” Hyojin is whacked in the face with a pillow as soon as the words come out.

 

“Who’s the one who barged in here and brought him up when no one asked?” Donghun sighs, giving his friend a once over, “You are _so_ screwed.”

 

Hyojin frowns, “What are you talking about?”

 

Donghun waves a dismissive hand, kicking Hyojin off of his bed. “You’ll see. And I’m gonna be here, watching it all unfold.”

 

“You’re so cryptic.” Hyojin complains, rubbing his knee that he had hit when he fell onto the floor. Just then, Junhee walks into the room and sees Hyojin clutching his knee on the floor. “Jun! Your boyfriend is bullying me!”

 

Junhee just looks at him, and then shrugs, “You probably deserved it.”

 

Donghun laughs and Hyojin runs an exhaustive hand down his face. Hyojin gets up from the floor, stomping out of the room, “I’m going to go find nicer friends.”

 

Since they share a common room, Seungjun and Jaeyoung’s room is just down the hall from his and right across from Donghun’s, so Hyojin figures they’re his next best bet at having a nice, Hangyeom-free day. He knocks on the door, which a yawning Jaeyoung opens, “Oh, morning.”

 

“It’s 2 in the afternoon, Jaeyoung.” Hyojin points out, to which Jaeyoung shrugs at. Hyojin slips in past the blonde and walks into the room. “Seungjun—“

 

“I get it! You hate Hangyeom!” Seungjun clips, eyes glued to his notebook. Hyojin’s mouth hangs agape, frozen still because he doesn’t know what just happened.

 

“I—I didn’t even mention him!”

 

“But you were going to.” Jaeyoung notes from behind him, sitting down on his bed.

 

Hyojin bites the inside of his cheek, “My life doesn’t revolve around him, guys.”

 

“Yeah why don’t you tell yourself that?”

 

Okay, so plan B, not such a good plan, he thinks.

 

“You know what would make this so much easier for you? And for all of us really,” Seungjun starts, placing his notebook on his side and clasping his hands together, leaning over and propping himself on his knees. “If you just tried to be civil with him.”

 

Hyojin snorts, “Trust me, it wouldn’t work.”

 

“Did you even try?” Seungjun adds. Hyojin opens his mouth to talk but he realizes he doesn’t have a good answer to that. “Exactly, maybe you should.”

 

“He’s a nice guy, Hyojin.” Jaeyoung pipes up, “I see him in the kitchen sometimes before my 8:30 class, he’s cool. I don’t know how he is around you but I wouldn’t hate him.”

 

“Yeah, and I feel bad, you always leave the common room when he comes in and the atmosphere gets awkward because it’s obvious you’re avoiding him. What if he wants to talk to us but he just goes into your guys’ room instead because he feels like we’re all shit-talking him?”

 

“That’s because we are.” Hyojin says nonchalantly.

 

Seungjun rolls his eyes, “ _You_ are, we aren’t. What if he hears you every time you complain about him in one of our rooms? It’s not a big dorm you know, if he’s in the common room he’d probably hear your whining. He probably thinks you genuinely hate him.”

 

Hyojin exhales long, contemplating, “Fine, I guess I can _try_ to be more civil.”

 

Jaeyoung grins, “And who knows? You might end up liking him.”

 

“One step at a time, Jaeyoung.”

 

 

 

 

 

Later that night Hyojin ends up bumping into Hangyeom in their kitchen when he had come out of his room for a late night snack. Hangyeom had just come back to the dorm looking all sweaty; Hyojin figures it’s from being at the gym, and gulps down a glass of water. Hyojin looks him up and down precariously, “Hey.”

 

Hangyeom pauses, staring at Hyojin like he’s trying to figure out if he actually talked to him or if he was just hearing things. Hyojin raises an eyebrow when he doesn’t say anything, and that brings Hangyeom back to reality, “Hey.” He replies, clearing his throat.

 

“You come from the gym?”

 

Hangyeom shakes his head, still slightly disconcerted, “Dance practice.”

 

“Oh?” Hyojin is genuinely surprised at that, “You dance?”

 

“Yeah, ever heard of Zero Gravity?”

 

Hyojin perks up at the name, Zero Gravity is a dance crew from a studio near their university that Hyojin had always wanted to be a part of, but he’d always chicken out when it was finally time for auditions. He’d been in his high school’s dance crew, but he didn’t think he was good enough for something more serious like them. They were, to put it simply, monsters. They were crazy good, better than Hyojin would ever be. And if Hangyeom was part of that crew, he figures he must be pretty impressive. “I always wanted to be a part of that when I was in high school.” Hyojin admits. He hadn’t meant to say anything past a simple ‘yeah’, but his excitement got the best of him.

 

“Why didn’t you ever audition?” Hangyeom asks, taking a seat across from him, stabbing at a strawberry with a fork. Hyojin doesn’t even really mind that he’s eating his strawberries.

 

Hyojin shrugs, “I just didn’t think I’d be good enough for it. I was always more of a singer than a dancer.”

 

“A singer? Hm.” Hangyeom sits on the thought, “How about you warble me a tune, Red?”

 

Hyojin opens his mouth, baffled, then snorts, “ _Warble_ a tune?”

 

“I—I don’t know I just heard it on a show once.” Hangyeom admits embarrassed, and he chuckles along with Hyojin. A silence falls over them that’s different from the usual, a lot less tension and maybe even a little pleasant. Hangyeom taps his fingers on the table, before getting up from his seat, “Well I’m gonna go take a shower and then turn in.”

 

Hyojin nods, slightly disappointed that they’re little exchange didn’t last any longer. Before he turns the corner, Hangyeom turns back to look at him, “Night, Red.”

 

Hyojin holds a hand up, giving him a half-smile, “Night.”

 

 

+

 

 

The five of them are seated in their common area, wrapped up in blankets on the couches as they settle in for game night. Hyojin had taken up half of the couch with his legs because he refused to let Donghun sit beside him.

 

“Where do you think Hangyeom is?” Seungjun asks from his spot beside Jaeyoung.

 

“Probably at dance practice.” Hyojin comments offhandedly, and it takes him a while to notice the collective stares questioning him. Hyojin stammers out, “I-I found out by accident yesterday.”

 

“When did you even talk to him? You always make an effort to be in bed before he gets home so you don’t have to talk to him.” Seungjun points out.

 

“Yeah you said it prevents you from grabbing him by the neck.” Junhee adds.

 

Hyojin lifts one shoulder in a half shrug, “I bumped into him in the kitchen last night and I asked where he came from.”

 

Jaeyoung gasps, “Wait, you made it through a _normal_ conversation with him? Without any bruising?”

 

“You make it sound like _I’m_ the bully!”

 

“You kind of are, dude.” Donghun jumps in.

 

Hyojin sits up, mouth agape, “How am _I_ the bully?”

 

“You avoid him like the plague, you start arguments when you bump into each other—“

 

“I don’t start them, he does!”

 

“He just says something and you take it the wrong way because you expect there to be a negative connotation behind everything he says to you.”

 

At that moment, the front door to their dorm is pushed open and Hangyeom is walking in, looking on confused when the group stares at him. Hangyeom smiles awkwardly, “Hey guys.”

 

“Hey, book thief. You joining us?” Hyojin calls out, much to Hangyeom’s surprise.

 

“Uh, sure, just let me wash up. You can start without me.” He says before taking off for the bathroom.

 

Donghun is giving him this _look_ when Hyojin turns back. “You make no sense to me _whatsoever_.”

 

Hyojin presses his lips together, nodding, “Then we have something in common.”

 

The group bickers for a bit more before they actually decide on a game, and by the time Hangyeom gets back it’s like he never left. When he walks into the common area the only empty seat is beside Hyojin, which he looks hesitant to take. Hyojin looks up at him with a raised brow, then pats down on the empty spot beside him for him to sit. Hangyeom sits down rather apprehensively, and Hyojin points it out, “I don’t bite, you know.”

 

“I don’t think that’s entirely true.” Hangyeom shoots back, but relaxes into the couch anyways, maybe even leaning towards him a little.

 

“Let’s start with uno!” Junhee suggests excitedly, which all of them agree to.

 

“Have you played before?” Hyojin asks Hangyeom as Jaeyoung distributes the cards.

 

“I’m basically the master of uno.” Hangyeom replies proudly, sticking his chest out with a little smile.

 

Hyojin rolls his eyes, picking up his cards. “Yeah? Well let’s see you try to take me down.”

 

Hangyeom smirks, picking up his own hand of cards, “You asked for it, Red.”

 

A few minutes into the game, Hyojin thinks he’s got a shot of ending pretty quickly if he plays his cards right, that is until Seungjun turns the order around and Hyojin is stuck at +6 with nothing to counter it with.

 

"Don't do it." He grits through his teeth at the raven-haired boy beside him, who shrugs innocently, before placing another +4 on top of the pile. Hyojin groans, head falling into his hands in despair as the rest of the group cheer at Hyojin's misfortune. "I hate you all." 

 

A few games later, they decide to put on a movie to end the night. Jaeyoung warms up the popcorn and Seungjun flips through the options on Netflix. Once they decide on a movie, they flip the lights off and Hangyeom is pushed closer to him when Jaeyoung nudges Seungjun on the other end of the couch to move over. And then Hyojin is suddenly very hyperaware of his presence and the fact that this is probably the closest they’ve been (save for that time they were fighting over that textbook and Hangyeom tugged him closer). He thinks the temperature of the room might be rising when he feels his face heat up and can’t find any other explanation for it.

 

The rest of the group is laughing at the movie but half of Hyojin’s mind wanders for the duration of it, from everything to Hangyeom’s faint lavender scent to how Hangyeom would look in sleeveless tank, in the dance studio in front of the mirror, chest rising and falling and _fuck_ , he needs to get out of this room _fast_.

 

Hyojin stands up abruptly, heat rising up his neck when everyone turns to look at him peculiarly. “I’m tired, I’m gonna go to sleep. Goodnight.”

 

With that, he shuffles toward his room and shuts the door behind him, back pressing against the door and breathing heavily for a reason he’s not quite sure of. He shakes his head of his thoughts, heading towards his bed and rolls into his blankets, pressing himself up against the wall. After a few minutes of silence, he hears the door creak open faintly. “Hey, you okay?” Hangyeom’s voice filters into his ears, quiet and gentle, sending a whirlwind of emotions pooling in his gut.

 

“I’m fine, just tired.” Hyojin replies almost soundlessly, sliding further down his bed and underneath his blanket.

 

“Are you sure?” Hyojin can hear the hesitancy in Hangyeom’s voice, perhaps it’s because he’s as unconvincing as he sounds, but Hyojin can’t think of why Hangyeom would even care.

 

“Yeah,” He mutters in a pathetic attempt to get Hangyeom to leave him alone, “Go finish the movie.”

 

“Alright,” Hangyeom says tentatively, and before closing the door he adds, “Sleep well.”

 

 

+

 

 

It’s a monotonous work day so far, with Hyojin working the register while his friend Changyoon mixed the drinks. It’s not as busy as it usually is, though Hyojin has his hands full for the majority of his shift. When it hits late afternoon, he watches as a familiar face strolls up to the register with a casual smile on his face. As much as Hyojin wants to do something frivolous like get his order wrong, he’s never let his personal feelings get in the way of his work, even when he had an awful ex come in a few times. “Hi, what can I get you today?”

 

Hangyeom’s eyes search the blackboard about the counter, pursing his lips in indecisiveness, “Uh, I’ll have an iced caramel macchiato.”

 

Hyojin does his best to stay professional, punching in his order and Hangyeom pays wordlessly. He thinks the boy is going to head out as soon as he picks up his drink but instead, he seats himself at a table in a near corner of the store, grabbing his laptop out of his bag and working away. It’s unsettlingly difficult for Hyojin to look away, and it takes Changyoon snapping his fingers in his face for him to remember that he still has ten minutes left of his shift.

 

When his shift is finally over, Hyojin makes himself a mocha frappuccino and grabs himself a brownie and a blueberry muffin before strolling over to sit himself in the chair in front of Hangyeom. The raven-haired boy looks up from his laptop, blinking a few times and scrutinizing him like he’s some sort of test subject in his experiment. Hyojin tries to pay no mind to Hangyeom’s boring, sipping on his drink and biting into his brownie. As subtly as he can, he nudges his plate of food closer to Hangyeom, where the muffin is positioned near him if he ever wants to be his usual shameless self and eat it (Hyojin doesn’t do it for his benefit, he just wants to prove a point to himself). Apparently he’s not as subtle as he wants to pride himself on being, because Hangyeom is giving him another look as he glances back and forth from Hyojin and the muffin.

 

“Are you—Did you buy me food?” Hangyeom asks perplexed.

 

“Actually, I bought myself food. But it turns out I’m not that hungry.” Hyojin says indifferently as he takes another bite of his brownie.

 

“Uh-huh.” Hyojin decides to ignore the way Hangyeom is peering at him like he’s trying to get him to admit something and continues to scroll through his phone. “So why are you sitting here?”

 

Hyojin shrugs, “Why can’t I? We’re not strangers.”

 

“We might as well be with how much you hate me.” Hangyeom points out, and Hyojin watches as the younger reaches out for the muffin while his eyes are trained on his laptop. He has to stop himself from grinning at that. But then he thinks about the words that Hangyeom had said and frowns.

 

“Who said I hate you?”

 

Hangyeom blinks again, “You. About a hundred times.”

 

Hyojin clears his throat awkwardly, grabbing at his drink while mumbling, “I don’t _hate_ you.”

 

“Yeah well your words seem to think so.” If Hyojin didn’t know any better he’d think Hangyeom actually _pouted_ with his words.

 

“Why would it matter to you anyways? You hate me too.”

 

Hangyeom snorts, “I never hated you, Red. It’s fun to rile you up but I don’t hate you.”

 

Hyojin shoots him a glare, “Why don’t you tease the others? Why me?”

 

“You start arguments so I play along.” Hangyeom explains, taking a bite of the muffin, “I thought it was some sort of dynamic thing you liked having, judging by the way you treat Donghun. And it’s fun.”

 

“How is it fun?” Hyojin huffs, chewing on his straw. Every time Hyojin thinks he has Hangyeom figured out, he goes and throws him into a tornado of confusion.

 

Hangyeom shrugs, “Your voice goes all high pitched and your face turns the color of your hair when you’re mad, it’s cute.”

 

Maybe Hangyeom doesn’t mean to say that last part but Hyojin is fully aware of what he’d just heard, and if he thought Hangyeom was a tornado before, he’s a full blown storm now. “I—What?”

 

Hangyeom’s eyes widen, now conscious of what had just slipped from his mouth. He falls into a fit of stammering as he tries to explain himself while Hyojin continues to stare at him slack-jawed. “Uhhhh.”

 

“Hyojin!” Changyoon calls out from behind them and both of them whip their heads towards him, and Hyojin is both relieved and a little disappointed that he hadn’t gotten to hear Hangyeom’s explanation. But maybe he needs the rescue, because he’s not sure how he’d even react if Hangyeom _did_ end up explaining himself with something other than _‘I was kidding’._ Changyoon grabs Hyojin’s drink from out of his hands and takes a sip, “Are we going to the movie now or what?”

 

“O-Oh, right.” Hyojin glances towards Hangyeom apprehensively, unsure whether or not he should say anything before he leaves. Hangyeom just lifts a hand up and give him a short wave, “Have fun on your date.”

 

Changyoon fake gags at that, “Disgusting. I would never date him.”

 

“I’m _wonderful_ for your information.” Hyojin quips, grabbing the remains of his brownie and stumbling out of his seat. He throws Hangyeom one last look as he’s about to leave, “See you at home, I guess.”

 

Hangyeom gives him a tight-lipped smile and with that, Hyojin walks away.

 

 

 

+

 

 

Exams sneak up on Hyojin quicker than he expects and in an instant he’s flooded with piles and piles of notes and such little time to read them all. Soon, studying takes up all of his sleep time and he’s never had such bad dark circles before. In the very early hours of Sunday morning he ended up falling asleep out of pure exhaustion, and even then he had only gotten four hours of sleep. When he forcibly rolls himself out of bed, he can feel Hangyeom’s eyes on him.

 

“Whoa, why do you look drained of blood?” Hangyeom gestures for Hyojin to get up from off of the floor, “Come here, lemme see your neck.”

 

“I wasn’t bitten by a vampire, Hangyeom.” Hyojin mutters, voice raspy and barely audible.

 

“Well you look undead.” Hangyeom points out obviously.

 

“I’ve barely gotten any sleep in the past three days.” Hyojin admits, yawning wide and wrapping himself in his blanket, still seated on the floor.

 

“Okay you need to chill out with the studying thing.” Hangyeom says, pulling Hyojin’s blanket off of him and holding a hand out for him to take. Hyojin takes it reluctantly, pulling himself up from off of the floor and dragging himself out of the room and into the bathroom.

 

“Dude, you’re a top tier mess.” Donghun tells him as he enters the bathroom, scrunching his face up.

 

Hyojin glares at him, grabbing his toothbrush, “I’m aware, thanks.”

 

“Hey, on the bright side, you’ll be free after Wednesday!”

 

“If I can make it to Wednesday..” Hyojin grumbles, brushing his teeth angrily. The mere thought of school makes him want to set himself on fire. “How do you do it?”

 

“Do what?”

 

“Life.”

 

Donghun snorts, “Maybe if you took the stick out of your ass you’d enjoy it more.”

 

“I am so fun, Donghun.” Hyojin retorts, though ironically monotonous, “I am the life of the party.”

 

“If only Hangyeom knew that, hey?”

 

“Stop defending him over me!” The redhead quips, “He called me a vampire this morning.” Donghun smacks the back of his head, causing him to spit out the toothpaste in his mouth.

 

“Let him live, dude. How are you the nicest person to everyone else except him? Do you know how confused he must be when he asks people about you and they tell him you’re friendly and warm?”

 

Hyojin scrunches his nose, “Well maybe that’ll teach him to stop treating me like a joke.”

 

“Maybe you should both learn to get along.” Donghun tells him, and then puts a hand on his shoulder, “He’s a really great guy, you know. It would be really cool if we could all be friends. And I’m not talking about this dysfunctional friend group where we have to hang out with the both of you at different times and never together.”

 

Hyojin looks at Donghun in the mirror, wavering slightly. He says nothing and Donghun leaves him with a pat on his back.

 

 

+

 

 

The minute Hyojin walks out of his classroom on Wednesday evening, he lets out a long, relieved sigh. Midterms had finally wrapped up and he had a least a week or two to breathe before he had to get back into studying again. Thankfully they hadn’t been too hard, so the feeling of regret weighs less on his mind and he’s able to walk away with a light heart.

 

When he gets back to the dorm, the group is seated in the common room with cans of beer and bottles of soju on the coffee table. “There he is!”

 

“Congrats on being free, dude.” Jaeyoung cheers, “Now we can all celebrate!”

 

Seungjun holds out a can of beer for him to take and Hyojin smiles, rounding the couch and seating himself on the floor next to Donghun. He notices Hangyeom sitting on the couch just to his left, looking at him stiffly. Hyojin presses his lips into a tight smile, hoping that he’d loosen up with it. Hangyeom gives back a small smile, and then Donghun calls their attention to him, raising his can of beer in the air, “To temporary freedom!”

 

“Freedom!” They all clink their cans in the middle and down them, savoring the feeling of leisure.

 

By midnight, most of the group are pretty drunk, save for Hyojin, who’s always had a higher tolerance for alcohol than anyone else in the room. Junhee carries Donghun back to their room, and Seungjun and Jaeyoung stumble back to theirs. Hyojin and Hangyeom are left alone in the common room shortly after, with a sober Hyojin and a very tipsy Hangyeom. The raven-haired boy is rather flushed, with this dumb smile on his face and Hyojin has absolutely no idea what to do. “Um, maybe we should get you to bed.”

 

Hangyeom pouts, lifting his arms up, “Carry me.”

 

Hyojin almost chokes on his saliva, looking at Hangyeom incredulously, “What are you, five?”

 

The younger says nothing, only keeps his arms held out in front of him until Hyojin finally caves in and wraps Hangyeom’s arm around his shoulder and supports him by his waist, helping him back to their room. Hyojin flings Hangyeom onto his bed when they get to the room, sighing as he watches Hangyeom roll himself into a blanket burrito. The younger shivers visibly, “I’m cold.”

 

“You’re already in your blanket.” Hyojin points out, and Hangyeom nuzzles into his pillow.

 

When Hyojin is about to get up from his crouching position, Hangyeom stops him, “Wait!”

 

Hyojin sighs, turning back to sit cross-legged on the floor beside Hangyeom’s bed, “What do you want?”

 

“You have to stay here until I fall asleep.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Cause you made me upset so you have to stay right here until I sleep.”  Hangyeom mumbles, eyes barely open but Hyojin can see the dejection in his eyes and it forces him to stay seated. “Why do you hate me?”

 

Hyojin purses his lips, his voice softening, “I don’t hate you.”

 

“Then why don’t you treat me like everyone else?” Hangyeom whines, “You’re so nice to everyone but you get annoyed just seeing my face.”

 

“If you’ve forgotten, you’re the one who made a bad impression by taking the textbook away from me in the bookstore.”

 

“Looking for textbooks is stressful and Donghun said you don’t usually use them anyways. When I saw you here the second time I didn’t think you’d still hate me for it.”

 

Hyojin shifts uncomfortably, “I _might_ have some letting go issues. And it didn’t seem like you wanted to be civil with me anyways.”

 

“I only act cold when the other person does.” Hangyeom explains, voice dropping to a whisper, “I wanted to forget about the bookstore thing but you didn’t let it go the second time we met so I kept going with the whole defensive thing. And then you got mad at me for everything after that and I lost hope that we could ever become friends.” Hyojin’s eyes linger on the youngers face, a stabbing feeling at his chest. “When you loosened up around me that one night, I thought I had hope. But then you put up walls again and I kept wondering what I could have done wrong.”

 

Hyojin stays quiet, listening to the younger talk while talking in everything he’s saying. He feels guiltier the more he talks but he can’t just get up and walk away because here Hangyeom is, pouring his heart out to him and he looks so vulnerable, sounds so unguarded. He probably won’t even remember saying all of these things in the morning but it Hyojin knows it’s going to occupy every single part of his mind and keep him dwelling on it for a while. “I never meant to make you feel that way.” He whispers, fiddling with his fingers.

 

“I’m scared to try and be nice to you because I’m scared you’ll reject my efforts.” Hangyeom mutters, eyebrows furrowing in distress. “I don’t know how to get you to like me.. I—”

 

The rest of his sentence drowns out in mumbles and soon, Hangyeom is asleep and Hyojin is left with with a cluster of intangible chains wringing at his heart.

 

 

+

 

 

When Hangyeom walks into the kitchen the next morning, Hyojin's eyes follows him curiously, wondering if he remembers what he had said last night. “Morning.”

 

Hangyeom looks up, slightly dazed, “Morning..”

 

“Seungjun made hangover soup before he left.” Hyojin says as he places a bowl of the soup in front of Hangyeom, sitting across him with his own breakfast.

 

“Oh, thanks.” Hangyeom eats quietly, never once looking up from his food. Hyojin keeps his eyes trained on him, is he acting like this because he remembers last night? Or maybe he’s just being cautious because he doesn’t remember if he had done anything embarrassing. Whatever it is, it’s clear that he’s avoiding eye contact with him.

 

“Are you feeling okay?” Hyojin asks tentatively, to which Hangyeom nods, still keeping his eyes fixed on his soup.

 

“I have a small headache but I think I’ll be fine.”

 

“Do you remember anything?”

 

Hangyeom stirs his soup quietly, “Not really, my memory is usually fuzzy when I drink.” He looks up apprehensively, “Did I do something?”  

 

“Well, you started singing at some point and danced to some twice songs but other than that, not much.” Hyojin tries to say without laughing.

 

Hangyeom goes red immediately, face falling into his hands. “Oh god.”

 

Hyojin finally allows himself to chuckle, “You’re great at girl group dances, you know.”

 

“ _Please_ don’t tell me you have that on video.”

 

Hyojin smirks, “The entire fifteen minutes of it.”

 

Hangyeom groans, head falling onto the table in embarrassment and Hyojin bursts out into full out laughter. “I’m kidding, I only got like four minutes of it but it’s still great blackmail material.”

 

The younger snaps his head up, pouting. “How much do I need to pay you to delete it?”

 

Hyojin sits up straight, bringing his hand up to stroke his chin thoughtfully, “Hm, a week’s worth of coffee should do.”

 

“Done.” Hangyeom agrees promptly, “Just.. please don’t get extra-large, my wallet is already crying from how much I spent on food last week.”

 

Hyojin grins wickedly, “I don’t know, I’ve been feeling extra tired lately, I might need all the caffeine I can get.”

 

“But you don’t even have any work to do!” Hangyeom whines, “Besides, don’t you need to catch up on sleep anyways? You’ve barely gotten any for almost two weeks.”

 

“Aw, are you worrying about me?”

 

“Yes.” Hangyeom frowns, throwing Hyojin off. “It’s not healthy for you to be losing this much sleep, you might miss classes because you messed up your sleep schedule.”

 

Hyojin clears his throat, “It’s okay, I’m very strong-willed.” Hangyeom lifts a brow, disbelieving, “Okay _fine_ , I’ll start fixing my schedule tonight.”

 

Hangyeom smiles in victory, going back to his soup. “Do you have work today?”

 

“Yeah, my shift starts at 1.”

 

“I’ll drive you.” Hangyeom offers, “I’m going to practice anyways.”

 

Hyojin ignores the twinge in his chest, “Are you okay to dance today?”

 

“Probably. And it’s not like I really have a choice anyways, we have a competition coming up so I need to be at every practice.”

 

Hyojin looks him over worriedly, “Alright, but don’t overwork yourself.”

 

Hangyeom catches his eye and Hyojin tries not to shy away from his gaze, in a quiet voice he says, “Yeah, I’ll try not to. And _you_ try not to fall asleep at work.”

 

Hyojin tilts his head and when he smiles at Hangyeom it feels almost affectionate, “I work at a coffee shop, Hangyeom. If anything I can sneak a shot of espresso for myself.”

 

Hangyeom chuckles, and Hyojin thinks the sound of his laughter is quite nice, if he’s being honest. “Right.”

 

 

 +

 

 

“Hey, sorry I couldn’t drive you to work today.” Junhee says quietly when Hyojin gets home and makes his way into his and Donghun’s room, Donghun having fallen asleep in his lap. “Did you bus?”

 

Hyojin shakes his head, plopping himself onto Donghun’s bed, “Hangyeom drove me.”

 

Junhee raises a brow, “You asked him for a ride?”

 

“He offered, and I didn’t see why not.”

 

Hyojin shifts uncomfortably when Junhee’s eyes linger on him for a long while, “Are things getting better between you two?”

 

“I don’t know..” Hyojin mumbles, tapping his feet restlessly, “We had a decent conversation this morning, and last night..”

 

“Wait, whoa what did you do last night?”

 

“It’s not like that!” Hyojin shoots back, and Junhee holds his hands up defensively. Hyojin coughs, “He said some things when he was drunk. Stuff about him being upset that I don’t treat him the way I treat everyone else.”

 

“Well, he’s not wrong..”

 

“I know, and I feel bad the more I think about it.” Hyojin admits, falling onto his back with a sigh.

 

“It’s not like we haven’t been telling you this entire time to take it easy on him.” Junhee notes, “We’ve been telling you he’s a great guy, and you would know that if you got over your little grudge already.”

 

“I’ve been pretty childish, haven’t I?”

 

“ _Extremely_ childish.” He hears Donghun’s raspy voice add in, “You seriously need to make it up to him.”

 

Hyojin sits back up, looking at his best friend desperately, “I don’t know how.”

 

“It doesn’t have to be something big. For starters, you can stop attacking him for breathing.” Donghun says pointedly as Junhee runs his hand through his hair, “Spend some time with him, I don’t know, just talk. We talked for a while on the first day I met him and he’s really easy to get along with.”

 

After making himself a small dinner, Hyojin makes his way back into his room, where Hangyeom is already resting on his bed, scrolling through his phone. Hangyeom looks up when he enters the room, “Hey.”

 

“Hi,” Hyojin greets, awkwardly making his way to his own bed and thinking of a way he can initiate a conversation. After a few moments of contemplating, he blurts out, “Let’s talk.”

 

Well, it could have been worse.

 

Hangyeom casts him a curious look, putting his phone down and turning towards him. “About what?”

 

Hyojin shrugs, “I don’t know, about anything.”

 

The younger still seems skeptical, but Hyojin can’t even blame him. “Why?”

 

“I just.. realized I don’t know much about you. I want to get to know you more.” Hangyeom’s eyes widen slightly, looking extremely dumbfounded. “Is that okay?”

 

“Uh, y-yeah,” Hangyeom replies, sitting up to lean against his headboard, “What do you wanna know?”

 

Hyojin thinks for a bit, “What’s your major?”

 

“I’m a communications major.”

 

“Oh,” Hyojin is genuinely surprised at that, “I thought you’d be doing something in the performing arts.”

 

Hangyeom nods, “Yeah, I’d prefer that, but it’s not exactly the most stable path to take. I love dancing but, one day I’m gonna have to give it up.”

 

Hyojin frowns, “I haven’t seen you in your element but I’m sure you’re great, you _have_ to be. You’re in Zero Gravity.”

 

The younger smiles bitterly, “I’m not that great.. the group will be fine without me in a few years.”

 

“You know, I used to want to be a music major.” Hyojin reveals, “I love singing, it was practically my life since I was a kid. But I was also good at science and math, and my parents thought it would be a waste not to pursue something in the field so ultimately I went into microbiology.”

 

“Reality is pretty harsh.” Hangyeom adds, “Could I hear you? Sing, I mean.”

 

“O-Oh, like, right now?” Hyojin stammers, his anxiousness amplified tenfold because oh god, he’s not prepared in the slightest. “Um, yeah, sure.”

 

Hyojin takes a deep breath as Hangyeom looks at him expectantly. He closes his eyes, choosing the song he’s most confident in and starts off softly. He sings until the end of the first chorus, eyes shut tightly the entire time for fear of messing up if he were to look at Hangyeom. Thankfully he finishes the song without any mistakes, but he doesn’t want to open his eyes when he finishes.

 

“Wow,” He hears Hangyeom breathe out and he finally flutters his eyes open to see Hangyeom still staring at him, “Okay, wait I didn’t expect you to be _that_ good and now I don’t know what to do. _Dude_ , you’re amazing.”

 

Hyojin laughs, loosening up considerably though he can feel his ears heating up. “I’m pretty rusty but thanks.”

 

“I’m not even kidding like I’m metaphorically a puddle of goo right now.”  

 

“This isn’t really fair, though.” Hyojin begins, “The only time I’ve seen you dance is when you were drunk dancing to girl group songs.”

 

“I thought we decided not to bring that up.”

 

Hyojin grins, amused at the immediately change of Hangyeom’s tone. “Alright, fine. But it’s still unfair.”

 

“How about I take you to one of my practices?” Hangyeom offers after a beat, “You said you’ve always wanted to audition, maybe you’d have fun watching one of our practices.”

 

“Oh, are you allowed to bring people in?”

 

“I’m sure they’d allow it.” Hangyeom twists the ring on his finger, waiting for a response, “So, are you up for it?”

 

“Yeah, that’d be cool.” Hyojin replies, bowing his head when Hangyeom meets his eyes.

 

“My next practice is Tuesday evening? It’s going to be a quick practice so you can come if you’re free..”

 

Hyojin nods, “I only have a morning class on Tuesday so that works.”

 

Hangyeom smiles, “Cool.”

 

 

+

 

 

“You two seem a lot friendlier.” Donghun nudges him as they’re eating an afternoon snack, after he had caught Hyojin and Hangyeom laughing together as they exited their room. Hangyeom had made a joke that was actually funny for once (most of the time his puns are terribly lame) and it was something he hadn’t expected so when he let out a laugh, it was a surprise to both of them.

 

Hyojin shrugs, feigning indifference, “I took your advice.”

 

“That’s a first.” He teases as they’re clearing the table of their plates.

 

“Yeah, well you’re helpful about 1 in 10 times so..”

 

His shoulder ends up suffering the wrath of Donghun’s fist, “You are the worst friend anyone could ever have.”

 

Hyojin forces a smile as he rubs the sore spot, “Back at ya.”

 

Hangyeom walks in, and Hyojin is just relieved that he had missed the conversation about him by just seconds. “Hyojin, we’re leaving at 5, okay?”

 

Donghun glances back and forth at the two of them and Hyojin freezes in place, “Where are you two going?”

 

“I’m taking him to my dance practice.” Hangyeom explains, “He thought it was unfair that I got to hear him sing but he hasn’t seen me dance.”

 

Donghun gives Hyojin a look before turning to Hangyeom and pouting, “Why don’t you ever take me to your practices?”

 

“Oh, you never asked me to, sorry..”

 

“You wanna tag along?” Hyojin asks him, for fear that things might get awkward between him and Hangyeom if it was just them alone. Donghun only smiles at him but Hyojin can tell that it’s more devious than anything.

 

“That’s okay, you two have fun.” If he could get any more aggravating, Donghun _winks_ at him before he leaves the room. What the _fuck_.

 

Hyojin rubs the nape of his neck, “Um, I’ll just go get dressed.”

 

Hyojin soon realizes that he didn’t have much to worry about, because just like Donghun had said, Hangyeom is really easy to talk to. He keeps conversations flowing effortlessly and somehow has the ability to make him feel comfortable, which usually isn’t the case for him when it comes to the beginnings of a friendship. But when he thinks about it, he’s never actually had a hard time talking to Hangyeom, even during their first encounter. It’s a little unrealistic, even, given that Hangyeom has the sort of visuals that make people weak in the knees (objectively speaking, of course). And he’s definitely a lot more than just a little lame; he’s probably the biggest dork Hyojin has ever met and maybe it’s that specific fact that alleviates some of Hyojin’s previous worry.

 

It’s only a short while that Hyojin is able to relax because soon, they’re walking towards Hangyeom’s studio and Hyojin is absolutely terrified of talented people and Zero Gravity is probably the epitome of talent in his eyes. Hangyeom seems to notice, because he tries to calm him down, “Hey, relax. Don’t worry, they’re all really friendly.”

 

Hyojin nods timidly, slowing his pace and trailing behind Hangyeom. The younger turns back to give him a look, and Hyojin hears him laughing quietly. “What are you laughing at?”

 

“I’ve never seen you this nervous before.” Hangyeom says, and Hyojin just glares holes into the back of his head.

 

“I’m not nervous.” Hyojin denies, “I’m just… not good with strangers.”

 

“Could have fooled me with the way you attacked me at our first meeting.”

 

“Hey, that was different!” He tries to defend himself, “You were being an ass so I was just returning the attitude.”

 

“I was only being an ass because you were being an ass.”

 

“Fine, it’s both of our faults.” He must not be in the right mind today because he doesn’t register Hangyeom halting and ends up bumping into his back.

 

Hangyeom snorts at him, putting a hand on the small of his back and leading him towards his side, “Careful, Red.”

 

Hyojin panics when Hangyeom brings him in front of him because he doesn’t know where to go or where to look and there’s some blonde guy walking up to them and Hyojin is _terrified_. “Hey! It’s A-day yeah!”

 

Hyojin backs up to Hangyeom’s side and watches as the younger brings up a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, “Byeongkwan, I swear to God, if you call me that one more time I’m going to break your legs.”

 

“Who’s this?” Byeongkwan gestures towards Hyojin and bows his head upon making eye contact.

 

“This is Hyojin, he’s my roommate.”

 

“Oh, the cute redhead you always talk abo—“

 

“Okay! Time to warm up!” Hangyeom shouts rather loudly, grabbing at Byeongkwan’s arm and dragging him away. He turns back to Hyojin, pointing at the chairs just off the side of the dance floor. Hyojin shuffles toward the chairs awkwardly, smiling politely at the few people who greet him. Shortly after seating himself, the person Hyojin assumes is their choreographer walks in and starts the practice. As he expected, their practice is rather vigorous; they go on and on, running through their piece without any breaks. Hyojin’s high school dance crew wasn’t half as hardcore as they were, but he figures it’s a given that they work this hard, being that they’re well known champions with a long going reputation.

 

The real surprise is Hangyeom, who Hyojin deems could very well be the dictionary definition of duality. He’s absolutely captivating, changing immediately with song. There’s a fire that lights in his eyes the moment he starts dancing, and it takes Hyojin back to his choir days, where he had the same fire in his eyes when he sang. There’s a proud feeling that swells in his chest at the sight of Hangyeom being so passionate about dancing, and balancing that on top of school. Zero Gravity required a considerable amount of dedication, and that included time, effort, and endurance. There’s no room for even the slightest amount of laziness, and it has Hyojin wondering how Hangyeom is still able to get himself out of bed so early in the morning despite coming home late and probably immensely sore every time. It makes him feel kind of guilty for being lazy when he hasn’t even half of the grit and stamina that Hangyeom has, on top of the lack (read: absolutely none) of physical activities he takes part in.

 

The practice wraps up in an hour and Hangyeom is striding up to his side, sweating dripping down his face and hair all disheveled yet somehow he still looks ethereal. “Hey, you.. doing okay here?” Hangyeom asks between pants, crouching down and breathing heavily.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine, but you look exhausted.” Hyojin notes, looking him over pitifully. 

 

Hangyeom waves his hands, opposing the speculation, “Oh, no I’m good, this is nothing. Our practices are normally a lot longer than this.”

 

Hyojin frowns, his motherly instincts kicking in as he reaches out for the towel around Hangyeom’s neck and wipes the sweat from the sides of his face. He only grasps the situation when he feels Hangyeom’s eyes boring into him. His hand freezes where it is against Hangyeom’s face, almost losing himself in the younger's intense gaze. There’s a somewhat sinking feeling in his stomach, a kind of nervous that he’s not entirely sure where it stems from, though it’s a feeling much like that time they had been watching a movie and he left abruptly during the movie and hid under the covers for the rest of the night. The longer he stares at Hangyeom the bigger the feeling gets and he jerks back when it gets too overwhelming. “S-Sorry.”

 

He hands Hangyeom his towel back, the younger looking just as confused by the moment as he is.

 

“Gyeom!” Byeongkwan calls out from behind them, breaking the tension, “Are you coming with us? We’re going out for wings.”

 

Hangyeom turns back to him, “You up to eat?”

 

“Oh, um, am I allowed to tag along? Isn’t it like a crew sort of thing..?”

 

The younger shakes his head, “I’m sure they won’t mind, but if you don’t want to I can just take you home.”

 

“No, it’s fine! We can go with your friends, I’m okay with it.”

 

The air between them is still a little tense, but Hangyeom’s soft smile seems to relief it by a fraction. “Alright, just let me get changed.”

 

 

 

 

Hyojin can’t help but think about how much it seems like he’s more than just Hangyeom’s friend, especially with the obvious glances his other friends have been throwing them since they sat down in the restaurant. He feels a tad bit out of place, but the quiet exchange Hangyeom has with him among the rest of the group's chattering is keeping him relatively relaxed.

 

It’s when Hangyeom excuses himself to go to the bathroom that throws Hyojin into another bout of panic. Byeongkwan turns to him when Hangyeom leaves, and Hyojin is a bit intimidated. “He talks about you a lot, you know.”

 

“Hangyeom?” Byeongkwan nods, and Hyojin’s eyebrows furrow, “Why would he talk about me?”

 

Byeongkwan shrugs, “One day he just came in and started talking about this cute redhead who ended up being his roommate and how infuriating it is that he can’t get you to like him because he’s stupid and has no idea how to talk to you. But it seems like you two are on good terms.”

 

Hyojin flushes pink immediately at the word ‘cute’, he almost doesn’t hear the rest of what Byeongkwan says. “We didn’t get off to a great start, but it’s gotten better now.”

 

“Yeah, he looks a lot happier today.” If Hyojin hadn’t known any better, he’d think that Byeongkwan was trying to hint something at him. But what would there even be to hint? He and Hangyeom had only started to patch up their dysfunctional friendship just a few days ago, there couldn’t be anything going on this early. Sure, objectively Hyojin is attracted to him, but there has to be more to a crush than just physical attraction. And yeah, Hangyeom is easy going and amusing, and he’s considerate and generous and he’s immensely talented and he pouts like an adorable little puppy when people tease him but Hyojin does _not_ have a crush on him, and Hangyeom couldn’t possibly feel that way about him either. “And the moment you were having back at the studio earlier made me feel kind of bad that I had to interrupt it.”

 

Hyojin chuckles awkwardly, “What moment? There wasn’t a moment..”

 

“Staring at each other like that for almost a minute seems like a moment to me.” Byeongkwan says pointedly, and at that moment Hangyeom slides back into the booth, leaning over and butting into the exchange.

 

“What are you guys talking about?”

 

Hyojin turns back to him with a tight-lipped smile, “Nothing! The food is here, let’s eat.”

 

He tries to ignore Byeongkwan’s snickering beside him.

 

 

+

 

 

Hyojin and Hangyeom ease into a less hostile rapport over the rest of the semester, even going so far as Hangyeom visiting him at his workplace when he has night shifts and sitting in the corner, working away and being there to talk to Hyojin while he was on break. Soon, even Changyoon is giving him The Look and Hyojin can’t even avoid it anymore. That stupid look is everyone on all of his friends’ faces and no matter how much he tries to deny it, Hangyeom makes it hard when he’s being charming and pleasant and Hyojin _hates_ him for being nearly perfect in every aspect. It’s completely unfair that he has to suffer with all of these confusing thoughts while Hangyeom was always so composed.

 

Hangyeom sits in his usual corner of the café that night. He doesn’t have his laptop today and Hyojin can feel his eyes on him for almost the entire duration of his shift and he’s been spelling so many names wrong because of it. Hyojin stomps up to the table after he ends his shift, glaring at the younger, who’s confused at his sudden indignation. “Why are you glaring at me like that?”

 

“I hate you.”

 

“What?”

 

“I like you so much that I hate you.” Hyojin confesses without a second thought, only catching himself after it had already slipped out of his mouth. His hand flies up to cover his mouth immediately and his eyes go wide, as does Hangyeom’s. “Um, forget I said anything.”

 

Out of utter embarrassment Hyojin walks out of the store without even glancing back, but he only makes it a few steps down the sidewalk before there’s a hand on his wrist, turning him around. Hyojin can’t even bring himself to look Hangyeom in the eyes, boring holes into the ground.

 

“How did you plan to get home, you idiot?”

 

Hyojin trudges behind Hangyeom as they walk to his car. For a second he contemplates making a run for it, but he figures that he’s going to have to own up to his words at some point—they’re roommates after all. He gets into the passenger’s seat but keeps his head hanging low. The ride back is painfully silent, and Hyojin doesn’t even half to be looking up to know that Hangyeom is stealing glances at him. He doesn’t make a snarky comment like he usually does, just stares at his fidgety hands and desperately wishes for the car ride to be over already so he can crawl under his covers and die.

 

“What did you mean..” Hangyeom speaks up when they’re at a red light, and Hyojin’s heart rate goes into overdrive, “when you said you like me so much you hate me? Was it like, platonic-like.. or..” Hangyeom is hesitant to finish the rest of his sentence, but the longer Hyojin ignores him the more suffocating it gets.

 

“No,” Hyojin whispers softly, “It wasn’t platonic.”

 

“Oh.”

 

The silence comes back anyways, and Hyojin wishes the seat would just fall from under him and engulf him completely.

 

“For the record, I hate you too.” _Great._ “Because I like you so much more.”

 

Hyojin chokes on seemingly nothing. He snaps his head up to look at Hangyeom incredulously, the younger looking like he’s holding back a smile. “I—What?”

 

“You know, I thought you were smarter than this.” Hangyeom teases, “I thought you knew this whole time, but I guess you were just as clueless as I was.”

 

“Wait, rewind.” Hyojin holds a hand up to stop him, extremely disoriented, “What is happening?”

 

“What’s happening is that I have the biggest crush on you and you’re an idiot.” Hangyeom says, breaking into a smile, “And you like me too.”

 

“I-I take it back..” Hyojin grumbles, pressing the back of his hands against to stop his face from heating up.

 

“You can’t take it back!” Hangyeom argues, “I’ve been trying to muster up the courage to tell you for a whole month and you ruined my plan, so you have to take responsibility for my month long restlessness only for it to fizzle because I didn't even get to do it!”

 

“I didn’t even mean for it to slip!” Hyojin shrieks, “You think I _wanted_ my confession to be that lame?”

 

“Suits you.”

 

“Alright, says you. Who’s the one who laughs at his own dumb jokes?”

 

“You love my dumb jokes.” Hangyeom says matter-of-factly, “Almost as much as you love me.”

 

“You’re mixing your antonyms up.”

 

“Shut up, you love me.”

 

“I _despise_ you.”

 

“Let’s go on a date tomorrow.” Hangyeom declares casually, “I’ll pick you up at 7.”

 

“Hangyeom we live in the same room.”

 

“Fine, _you_ pick me up at 7.”

 

“You are the dumbest person I have ever met.”

 

 

+

 

 

“Pay up, bitch.” Donghun gloats in Junhee’s face, who petulantly hands over a $20.

 

“Language!” Seungjun scolds the (suspiciously) eldest of the group.

 

“I can’t believe you bet on who would confess first!” Hangyeom exclaims in disbelief.

 

“I can’t believe you bet on _me_.” Hyojin adds, face contorting, “Who would ever think that I would confess first?”

 

“No one, but I knew you’d fuck up somehow.” Donghun explains smugly, waving the bill in his face.

 

“Don’t worry, Hyojin.” Seungjun joins in, “Jaeyoung and I aren’t that childish.”

 

“Yeah, our bet didn’t include money.” Jaeyoung reveals, earning an elbow to the stomach.

 

Hyojin scoffs, “You are all ridiculous.”

 

“What’s ridiculous is how long you took to tell each other.” Seungjun comments, “Do you know how painful it was for us to watch you two tiptoe around your feelings like a bunch of lovesick idiots?”

 

Junhee nods fervently, “Yeah, if it weren’t for the bet I would have thrown your feelings out in the air myself.”

 

“And since we’re amazing friends, we’re gonna go out for dinner. Without you two.”

 

“Wha—“

 

“Have fun! You get the house to yourselves.” Donghun winks at them, slinging and a hand around Junhee’s shoulder, “The febreeze is in the linen closet.”

 

“Oh my God.”

 

Soon, the common area is empty and the two of them are left alone on the couch. Hyojin lets out a deep exhale, leaning back onto the sofa, “Ugh, thank God they’re gone. I couldn’t stand them.”

 

He watches as the corners of Hangyeom’s lips tug up mischievously as he scoots closer, “Are you sure _that’s_ why you’re glad they left?”

 

Hyojin shoots him a glare, swatting at the hand trailing up his thigh, “Get your mind out of the gutter, Song Hangyeom. I don’t fraternize with book thieves.”

 

Hangyeom leans in closer, lips ghosting over Hyojin’s, “What if I make it up to you?”

 

“It better be a damn good compensation.” Hyojin whispers, unable to hold back a grin.

 

Hangyeom smiles and brings their lips together, pushing him down onto the couch, “Whatever you want, Red.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hjsdhs this was a ride it ended up being a lot longer than i planned for it to be but i hope you enjoyed it and that it wasn't too bad of a read!!
> 
> anyways, comment, leaves kudos and all that stuff, thanks for reading loves ♡
> 
> follow me on twitter (mixnine: [@songgyeoms](https://twitter.com/songgyeoms) / main: [@holywoojin](https://twitter.com/holywoojin)) and leave questions/requests in my [cc!](https://curiouscat.me/holywoojin)!


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